Iceland bank collapse: Geir Haarde, profile of a prime minister

Prime Minister Geir Haarde likes simply to be known as Geir, according to the familiar Icelandic custom.

Geir Haarde's extensive political experience as a minister for foreign affairs and a minister of finance is bolstered by three degrees in economicsPhoto: AFP/GETTY

By Rowena Mason, in Reykjavik

8:57PM BST 09 Oct 2008

Among his public, the prime minister of two years standing is a popular leader – but there is no doubt that he has been suffering the toughest week of his political life, lurching from financial crisis talks to one bank nationalisation after another.

The unassuming 57-year-old may have started the week chatting amiably with the public outside his official residence, but as the days passed he began to get jostled by hoards of reporters and security around his modest entourage increased.

Yet as the pressure mounted, Mr Haarde stepped up to the demands of the financial catastrophe threatening to overwhelm his country.

It was during a live address to the nation that he gave the performance of a lifetime, in a suspension of normal broadcasting usually reserved for volcanic warnings.

"Dear citizens, both in politics and elsewhere it will be important to sheathe our swords," he began. "It is very important that we do not lose courage and support each other as well as we can.